Why my family?

We seem to have worked through the school difficulties with Morley.  We have new problems.  It's Eyvind's kindergarten class.

I am too tired to write about all of it, but I did all I could to make it work.  I wrote careful, formal, non-accusatory, polite, and respectful emails to her teacher.  I asked for meetings.  I offered phone calls.  I got a week of typo-filled emails.

In a nutshell, Eyvind spent all of last weekend complaining about her stomach hurting her and telling us that she could go to church on Sunday but not school on Monday.  Sunday night she had a change of heart and went to school on Monday.  Tuesday morning she refused to get out of bed and stayed home.  I wrote her teacher asking for a meeting; I didn't give specifics, but I said the reason was that Eyvind was exhibiting a great deal of anxiety about school (we had many conversations with Eyvind which brought up some concerning things going on in the classroom and Eyvind's response to those issues).  Her teacher took over 24 hours to respond to me and claimed Eyvind was completely fine in class.  She wanted to know what I was seeing that made me concerned.  I wrote her back and gave her examples.

This is where it gets to be too much for me to write about in much detail.  She sent my letter to the superintendent because of one minor thing I mentioned which had virtually nothing to do with the overall problem.  The superintendent called and spoke to Jesse on Thursday morning.  They talked through that issue, but I was still waiting to hear from the teacher about scheduling the meeting I requested on Tuesday.  I finally got an email on Thursday afternoon.  She took the opportunity to respond to the examples I gave of Eyvind's anxiety.  She said she was "sorry that Eyvind [was] having a rough time at home," but that Eyvind was happy at school.  Do you see what she did there?  She also said that she was under the impression that the superintendent had worked everything out with us and that the meeting was no longer necessary.  I wrote back, told her that that was not the case, and that I still wanted a meeting.  She wrote me back this morning (Friday) and scheduled a meeting for next Thursday with the social worker.

When Eyvind came home today, she had had an experience that was deeply troubling in light of everything that has been going on.  I kept my shit together so that Eyvind would not be upset; it's a good thing that the school was closed when Jesse came home because he would have been after blood.  I know this is a bit vague.  Be assured that Eyvind is healthy and happy, but I would worry about both of those things if she continued in this kindergarten class; however, she will not be continuing.  We are going to homeschool her.  We will have to let her know gently and without getting into the reasons why.  I haven't quite figured out how to tell her.  I need her to know that it's not because of anything she did.  I also can't let her know it's because of what she told us - I don't want her to withhold information from us out of fear.

I'm so tired, but I'm already mentally drafting the letter to the superintendent.  As much as I hate incompetent, uncaring teachers, I love words, documentation, and evidence.